Chapter 512 - Live To Fight Another Day
"What are you talking about? It's just the light.." Responded Saha right before tilting her head to the side, and stroking her red eye with her left hand. When she lowered her arm a few moments later, she opened her eyelids to reveal an eye that matched the color of her other one.
While Saha's response could somehow explain this odd detail to the group of young women, that was not the case for Daniel, whose demeanor had changed completely. His body had suddenly turned rigid, and his head and shoulders had started to unconsciously inch away from Saha, whose arms were still locked around his own.
"Make a move, and I will obliterate you where you stand." Said the young woman with a jovial tone that she didn't bother to hide from others.
These few words were able to catch the attention of the female core disciple, who turned to look at her with suspicion, and asked, "Who are you talking to?"
"If you could have killed me, you would have done that already." Said Daniel, shocking both his guardian, and her three friends. He then turned his head towards Saha, and added, "Letting out your murderous aura and allowing for the nature of your cultivation to show in the eye of the person you are possessing.. You are not as adept to that skill as the first of you leeches that I have killed."
"What the hell is going on!?" Asked the young woman with straight black hair while the female core disciple reached for the talisman that she was carrying around her wrist, and broke it. Unfortunately, when she broke it, she realized that her message was unable to get past a few inches from the now shattered talisman.
The distortion that had stopped the young woman's message from reaching the elder of her sect was something that she could have never seen, as it was one of the most complicated abilities included in Daniel's comprehension of spatial essence. One which Daniel and Edmund referred to as 'Borderless Separation'. This ability allowed him to isolate a specific portion of space without having to create a divisory layer of solidified space, and was most useful when used to disturb weak movement of mana like transmissions of sound essence or mental power.
"Smart boy." muttered Saha while raising her left arm, and pointed her fingers towards the group of alerted young women.
Before she could kill them, however, Daniel removed his mask and said, "The ability I have used does not prevent people from seeing through. If you kill them, the ancient cultivators present here will notice you.. And since I know you would rather kill me than give me a chance to escape, I would appreciate it if you didn't."
Saha looked at the four young women whom she had wanted to kill for a long while, but in the end, since she could not argue with Daniel's point, so she lowered her arm, and once again entangled it around Daniel's. "Here is what is going to happen. The six of us will take a walk.. We will chat happily and stop to look at a few constructions and shops-But most importantly, we will do that with a happy smile on our faces. Have I made myself clear?" She said while momentarily releasing two portions of her power.. One that in the eyes of the four young women was in no way weaker than that of the patriarch of the sect, and another that seeped into Daniel's body and merged into his blood.
As the four young women felt this terrifying power that could erase their existence before they could even begin to look for help, they finally realized that this young woman was not the Saha that was known through the sect as the lovable and yet untalented granddaughter of their sect's Elder.. Or at the very least, not anymore.
What they did not know yet, was that within Saha's body was a member of the Blood Sect. A cult-like group that cultivated by consuming the body, mind, and spirit of living humans in the name of the aspect of Sacrifice, and that possessed a power that, when compared to the society that inhabited the domain of Competition, was just below a first ranked group-A position several times higher than the unranked Half Moon sect.
The ability used by this blood cultivator was the same used by the Murderous God to take control over the body of a living being, but since this possession was not as seamless as the one which Daniel had witnessed in the past, the blood cultivator was unable to prevent a few revealing details from showing. Instead of controlling Saha's still living consciousness and body, in a moment of irritation, the blood cultivator had taken over Saha's body, allowing for his cultivation to show in her eye, and for his karma to take the place of her own.
It was only thanks to this sudden change in karma that Daniel had realized who was hiding inside the body of the young woman that had pestered him for the past few hours.
After seeing the terrified expressions on the faces of the four young women, Daniel turned to look at them, and said, "If you do what he says, you might live to find a way out of this situation. If you don't, you will die here. Do you understand?"
His tone was reassuring, and carried through the air and towards the ears of the four young women along with as much mental fortitude Daniel could share from the distance. Luckily, this was enough for the four of them to snap out of their horrified state of mind, and weakly not at the possessed young woman in understanding. They then followed as Daniel was dragged away from the crowd, and into one of the side roads.
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"It took your people a while to find me." Said Daniel to the still jovial-looking Saha, who was pointing at the glass panels behind which different kinds of merchandise were put on display. Just a few steps ahead, the group of four young women were desperately trying to do the same without appearing suspicious.
"We have always known where you were, we just didn't know how to get to you." Said the blood cultivator through Saha's mouth with a matter-of-fact tone. He then turned to look at Daniel's uncovered face, and after swallowing a mouthful of air and saliva, he added, "Lord's legacy shines on your forehead like a star, and that is insignificant compared to the glow that my father and the rest of Lord's direct disciples see. It is as annoying as it is enticing."
Daniel sighed in relief. While the blood cultivator had not let out a lot of information, he had at least confirmed that not every blood cultivator could obtain the legacy.. Or at the very least, inherit its content. That was probably the reason why Daniel wasn't dead yet. He was being taken to this cultivator's father, who according to what he had just said, was one of the direct disciples of the Murderous God, and as such, should be able to obtain the full Legacy.
"And that is when you thought of using this possession art? That was a big risk. If you had lost control within the sect's territory, you probably would have caused the destruction of your sect." Said Daniel while smiling, and pretending to act as if what Saha was happily pointing at with her finger, was amusing him.
The blood cultivator could not help but scoff at Daniel before saying, "Finding a way to get you out of that rathole wasn't my primary objective. I could have simply taken your body and dragged you out.. Who would have thought that your mind was this powerful."
"Then what is next? You take me to your father, he kills me, and he becomes the new Murderous God?" Asked Daniel with a casual tone that was able to catch the attention of the four female cultivators, who finally realized whom they were dealing with.
"A foolproof plan, isn't it?" Responded the blood cultivator while forcing Saha's lips into a malicious smile.
"I agree with you about the fool part." Responded Daniel before stopping in the middle of the road. He then slowly removed his arm from in between Saha's, and while looking straight into her eyes, he said, "Your father should have taught you the importance of a strategic retreat."
"Don't think that just because I haven't killed you, I do not dare to. I would rather take the legacy from you and let my father kill me for it, than let you run away with it." Said the blood cultivator, who had suddenly turned serious. Then, once sure that Daniel had understood, he added, "And I always have the choice to kill everyone here.. Once we will have the legacy back, Competition's domain won't start a war with us to avenge the lives of a few puny cultivators. There is no one here who can stop me from dragging you away.."
Daniel nodded in agreement. He knew that blood cultivators were extremely resilient, and with so many powerful cultivators around, this one would have no problems with lasting until he would be the last one standing. However, while he could not deny his power, he still showed a calm and composed attitude.
"Truly a fool.. To think you'd be able to catch me without even knowing the most basic rule of a magic trick.." Said Daniel while curving his lips into a smile.
Irritated by Daniel's insult, the blood cultivator asked, "What do you mean? What is a magic trick?"
"You have made two crucial mistakes.. But explaining them would be boring. How about I show you?" Said Daniel before moving his eyes past Saha's head, and towards her back.
While Daniel's confident attitude wasn't able to break the self-assurance of the blood cultivator, his existence as one of Destiny's champions was enough for him to feel alerted, so he hurriedly turned around only to see.. Nothing. "To be careless against someone with a stronger mind than you.. Was your first mistake."
The blood cultivator did not need to turn around to know that both Daniel and the four young women had gone, after all, he had felt their consciousness disappear like mirages along with their bodies, that were nothing but clones made out of water and earth essence by Daniel. He had been trapped inside of Daniel's illusion ever since they had split away from the crowd, and had fallen for it due to Daniel's constant injection of mental fortitude, which had caused him to feel complacent.
However, while caught by surprise, the blood cultivator did not panic. He instead turned towards the stairway, where the light emitted by the blood legacy was shining brilliantly, and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was standing at its base, surrounded by thousands and thousands of cultivators who were currently staring at it with confusion.
At the hundredth step mark, Daniel was standing along with the immobilized figures of the four young women, who were looking around with panic. He, on the other hand, was looking at Saha.
"This was your second mistake. You should have taken me back in the sect." Said Daniel with a sound transmission while ignoring the shocked expressions of the crowd of cultivators. "Now tell me, why I shouldn't out you right now? Even if you kill everybody here, the domain of Competition will know it that the culprit was a member of the Blood Sect. how long will it take for them to learn that the Murderous God is dead, and that they can crush your sect with ease?"
The blood cultivator could not help but squeeze Saha's lips in irritation. He could feel the power of Competition in this stairway, and he knew that as a champion of a different aspect of existence, he would be killed the moment he would step on it, and therefore, as long as Daniel stood there, he was safe.. Which meant that his plan had failed miserably. However, not all was lost, and instead of panicking, he said with a sound transmission of her own, "I can keep my life in this universe.. I wonder if you would be able to do the same if I were to reveal whose champion you are to these cultivators."
Daniel was already aware of the fact that Iewah's children would be killed in Competition universes-After all, that was the first thing he had learned about this universe as soon as he had arrived in it. He had tried to create a mission that could allow him to reach one of Sewah's kin, but since the system could not come up with anything, he had guessed that those who had existed in the past, were likely all dead.
"A classic case of 'mutual destruction' versus 'live to fight another day'.." muttered Daniel, casually suggesting a momentary truce. One that the blood cultivator could not help but agree with.
With a bitter feeling in his mouth, the blood cultivator said, "Another day it will be, then.." He then turned around, and quietly disappeared in the crowd.
Once sure that the blood cultivator would uphold his part of the deal, Daniel turned towards the top of the stairway while carrying the four young women with him, and after reaching the platform at the top, he disappeared.